Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThis quantitative ethnolinguistic study examines the ways Pacific Islander teens use linguistic resources to construct (pan-)ethnic identity in two Utah high schools with different ethno-racial compositions. Drawing on multiple research traditions in linguistics and anthropology, this study illustrates the use of linguistic features as ethnic markers and as tools for positioning oneself and others within a social environment. Word list recordings were collected as part of ethnolinguistic interviews with a multiethnic sample of high school students. Data from 77 participants were then analyzed and comparisons were made between focal groups of Pacific Islanders (PIs/Polys) and European Americans (EAs/Palangis). Data from the two schools were also compared to test the effects of different social contexts. Results show PI participants performing a "Poly" pan-ethnic identity via Polynesian-patterned pronunciations of the words Hawaii, Samoa, and Tonga. This behavior is shown to be a deliberate assertion of identity and affiliation with a recognizable social group. In addition, acoustic analyses reveal subtle differences in English vowel pronunciation that distinguish the speech of PIs from that of their EA peers. This kind of ethnic marking, likely below the level of conscious awareness, is presented as a kind of habitual practice, distinct from the more intentional performance of place name pronunciation. Comparisons between schools suggest that the ethnic composition of the iv social environment also affects the linguistic marking of ethnic boundaries. The phonetic variables in this analysis include the near merger of low back vowels, the retraction and/or lowering of front lax vowels, and the potential fronting of nonlow back vowels. Although Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander (NHPI) is one of the fastest growing groups in the United States, these Americans are generally overlooked in the research on language variation. This study thus advances the field of sociolinguistics and provides insights into the meaning of ethnic identity in a postmigration context. The dissertation also introduces a novel method for correcting errors in F2 extraction due to a specified type of linear predictive coding error. An R script checks for potential errors in recorded F2 and substitutes the recorded F3 measurement for the faulty F2 measurement where appropriate